Pre-flight briefings are mandatory for commercial airline pilots and business and general aviation pilots. A pre-flight briefing typically occurs well in advance of the actual flight, and before the pilot enters the cockpit of the aircraft. The pre-flight briefing provides the pilot with certain information prior to takeoff, such as the flight plan, flight altitudes, the anticipated weather, the departure and arrival runway layout, etc. Pre-flight briefing data may be collected from any number of disparate and independent sources, and these sources may be maintained and supported by different entities, regulatory bodies, companies, business units, and the like.
Traditional pre-flight briefing data is provided in a raw, encoded, or otherwise difficult to interpret format. For example, weather data might be provided using code words, special notation, alphanumeric characters, or in a format other than plain human-understandable text. Consequently, the person undergoing the pre-flight briefing may need the assistance of human experts, counselors, and/or reference documentation to fully understand and comprehend the pre-flight briefing data. For example, a pilot may need to consult handbooks, reference materials, or lookup tables in an attempt to decode and interpret the pre-flight briefing data. As another example, a pilot may need to communicate with human operators who are well versed in the special nomenclature and syntax used to convey the pre-flight briefing data. Reliance on reference material, supplemental documentation, and human experts, however, can be cumbersome, inconvenient, time consuming, and costly.